Installation of radiant burners above the food to be cooked results in several advantages as described in my prior U.S. Pat. No. 6,012,444 which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety and in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/878,832, now abandoned filed Jul. 27, 2007 which is also incorporated herein in its entirety. Importantly, juices falling from the cooking food will not fall on the burners. This reduces flare-up and smoke in the cooking process. Without juices or fats falling on the burners, there is no chance for the meat to be overcooked by charring or catching on fire. Further, when using a rotisserie, the burner can be set at a high temperature so that the radiant heat rays penetrate into the food which provides fast and efficient cooking without burning. However, when using a conventional rotisserie, the meat product must be attached to or skewered on a spit which is a labor intensive manner of cooking.
The labor and time involved increases as the volume of meat is increased. When cooking for a restaurant or for sale as prepackaged cooked meats, the labor involved in cooking becomes a more important as the oven is used repeatedly to cook meat products. In these commercial applications the turnaround time of removing cooked meat from the oven and replacing it with raw meat is an important factor.
Another important factor is the packaging process after cooking to package the cooked food product so as to provide a long shelf life. Under proper conditions, the shelf life can exceed 60 days without freezing the product.
In view of the foregoing, it can be seen that there is a need for a new radiant burner cooking system which provides a fast cooking time and a flavorful cooked product packaged for a long shelf life while avoiding laborous and time consuming activities of cooking on a spit.